DAVIS – Freshman pitcher Shelby Wisdom broke the UC Santa Barbara record for single season wins after tossing a complete game three-hitter against UC Davis on Sunday afternoon at the Aggies’ La Rue Field. The Gauchos defeated UC Davis, 2-1, to avoid the Big West series sweep.
With the win, the Gauchos improve to 24-28 on the season and 9-6 in league. UC Davis drops to 20-26 and 10-5 in conference games. With two series remaining, UCSB is now in fourth place on the league leaderboard. Pacific and Long Beach State remain on top, each with an 11-4 mark.
Wisdom improved to 19-14 on the season, marking the highest single season win total in UCSB lore. The freshman had tied the school record, which was previously held by Krista Cobb, Jennifer Davis and Sandy Ortigies, last weekend against Pacific.
The pitcher limited the Aggies to just one run on three hits. She struck out five and walked four.
Kathryn Pilpil gave the Gauchos a strong start in the first inning when she hit a one-out double to left center field. Allison Taylor followed with a walk before Keilani Jennings came up big with an RBI double hit to center field.
In the fifth with two outs, Jessica Soria reached on an Aggie throwing error by shortstop Kelly Harman and dashed to second on the same play. Pilpil then reached base on balls before a base hit up the middle by Taylor sent Soria home from second for the unearned run.
Wisdom gave up just her second hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Rachel Miller hit a leadoff home run over the left field fence to cut the Gaucho lead to 2-1.
The run would be the Aggies’ only of the game as the Gauchos held on for the victory.
Five different UCSB players accounted for the team’s five hits in the game.
UCSB will continue Big West action next weekend when it returns to Campus Diamond for its final 2012 home series against Central Coast rival Cal Poly. The three-game series will open with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 5 at noon.
